Conditions for Adaptation of an Evolving Population

Abstract

We propose a model to study the adaptation of an evolving population to a given environment. Using the Monte Carlo simulations we find how much the phenotypes of individuals of the population and those required by the environment may differ for the population to grow. We show that survival chances are greater if the number of the phenotype's features is smaller. In the case when a part of the population may colonize an empty niche, we show that there is a minimum value of the similarity of the two environments in order that such a colonization may succeed. We also show that the two populations differentiate with time.